Andrew Powell

So, my co-worked Adam Flater started up the Merapi Project a while back and asked me to contribute. Up until now, the only thing I've had time to contribute was the name. Well, after seeing the cool stuff that he and Jordan were doing at 360|Flex, I decided it was time to step up to the plate, get my shit together, and produce my own kick-ass Merapi demo.

Anyone who has been following the blogs knows that we at UM are real big into GIS and data visualization. Don't believe me? Take a look at SpatialKey to see what we can do with it.

I recorded a screencast where I walk you through the setups and the code of the application:

Java Code:

package com.universalmind.merapi;
import gnu.io.CommPort;
import gnu.io.CommPortIdentifier;
import gnu.io.NoSuchPortException;
import gnu.io.PortInUseException;
import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.GPS;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.IDate;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.IGPSlistener;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.IPosition;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.ITime;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.Position;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.PositionRadians;
import com.diddlebits.gpslib4j.Garmin.GarminGPS;
import merapi.Bridge;
import merapi.MerapiObject;
import merapi.messages.Message;
public class GPSReader extends MerapiObject implements IGPSlistener{
   GPS gps;      
   Position position = null;
   IPosition current = null;
   BufferedInputStream input;
   BufferedOutputStream output;
   
   public Bridge bridge;
   
   public static void main( String[] args )
   {
      
      new GPSReader();
   }
   
   public GPSReader()
   {
      super();
      
      bridge = Bridge.getInstance();
      
      CommPort port;
      
      try {
         port = CommPortIdentifier.getPortIdentifier("/dev/tty.USA19H1d1P1.1").open("GPSReader", 3000);
      } catch (NoSuchPortException e) {
         System.out.println("/dev/tty.USA19H1d1P1.1 not found!");
         return;
      } catch (PortInUseException e) {
         System.out.println("Port already in use by " + e.currentOwner);
         return;
      }
      
      try {
         input = new BufferedInputStream(port.getInputStream());
         output = new BufferedOutputStream(port.getOutputStream());         
      } catch (IOException e) {
         System.out.println("Error opening /dev/tty.USA19H1d1P1.1");
         return;
      }      
            
      gps = new GarminGPS(input, output);
      gps.setAutoTransmit(true);
      gps.addGPSlistener(this);
      
   }
   
public double getLat() {return __lat;}
   public void setLat(double lat) {
      this.__lat = lat;
   }
   public double getLon() {return __lon;}
   public void setLon(double lon) {
      this.__lon = lon;
   }
   public String getTime() {return __time;}
   public void setTime(String time) {
      this.__time = time;
   }
   public String getDate() {return __date;}
   public void setDate(String date) {
      this.__date = date;
   }
   
   public void dateReceived(IDate d) {
      String dateString = d.getMonth() + "/" + d.getDay() + "/" + d.getYear();
      System.out.println(dateString);
      this.setDate(dateString);
   }
   public void positionReceived(IPosition pos) {
      current = pos;
      this.setLat(toDecimalDegrees(current.getLatitude()));
      this.setLon(toDecimalDegrees(current.getLongitude()));
      Message message = new Message();
      GPSPoint point = new GPSPoint();
      point.lat = this.getLat();
      point.lon = this.getLon();
      point.date = this.getDate();
      point.time = this.getTime();
      message.setData(point);
      try {
         bridge.sendMessage(message);
      } catch (Exception e) {
         
         System.out.println(e.getMessage());
      }
      
   }
   public void timeReceived(ITime t) {
      String timeString = t.getHours() + ":" + t.getMinutes() + ":" + t.getSeconds();
      this.setTime(timeString);
      System.out.println(timeString);
   }
   
   private double toDecimalDegrees(PositionRadians rads){
      return Math.toDegrees(rads.getRadians());
   }
   
   private double __lat = 0;
private double __lon = 0;
private String __time = "";
private String   __date = "";
}

OK, so today I took the family to Stone Mountain Park. We took along the handy dandy Foretrex 101 GPS unit and the digital camera as well. We took pics of our ride up to the top, our hike down the mountain, and our train ride around the mountain. It was pretty hot for October, about 80 degrees, but the kids loved it and best of all, they slept the whole way home. Without further delay....

Ok, so I really am excited about what can be done with MapMyPix. I already had a digital camera, the Sony Cybershot DSC-T200, but I needed to pick up a GPS to make the experience complete. I wanted something that was small and that I can easily carry with me on Lake Chatuge. I ended up going with the Garmin Foretrex 101. It's not fancy, but it will do what I need it to do as far as recording tracks into a GPX file. I had to buy the data cable and a DB-9 to USB adapter (no serial ports on the MacBook). I will start loading my tracks and pix into mapmypix starting this weekend. Look for links soon!